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Socrates Search For Justice In Plato's Republic

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The Republic centers on two questions: what is justice and is it better to live justly or unjustly. The puzzles of defining justice in Book I prompt Socrates to search for justice in a different way. He creates a city, which not only helps him locate justice but also allows him to assert his ideas on the best ruler. While it may seem self-serving for Plato to choose a philosopher to rule, his claims make an opposing view difficult to justify. Genuine philosophers “strive above all for truth of every kind” and become temperate, wise, courageous, and just leaders. If such a person exists than is seems illogical to argue for anyone other than a philosopher to rule.
The difficulty of defining justice emerges first in the character of Cephalus. …show more content…

Philosophers are “lovers of seeing the truth” (4903). As a result, they possess a love for wisdom above all earthly pleasures such as wealth or fame. Additionally, unlike non-philosophers, they seek to know and come to know many things by their nature for, “philosophic natures always love the sort of learning that makes clear to them some feature of the being that always is and does not wander around between coming-to be and decaying.” Therefore, they not only hold opinions about many things but they know the truth about them because they know their nature (pg 8 commentary) Thus, Socrates argues because they know the truth about many things they will rule according to what is truly …show more content…

What’s most important, Defenders of Democracy suppose, is that the leader be elected by the people. In other words, the most important thing is that the leader be chosen democratically. That’s the best way to guarantee that the community has a good leader, or so Defenders of Democracy allege. However, to refute this rebuttal, I think Socrates would establish common ground with Defenders of Democracy. The first premise would be that the population is not composed of purely rationally led people; they possess strengths that aid the country but they also hold weak, appetite lead parts. The second premise would be that people vote for the candidate that agrees the most with their viewpoints; otherwise voting would make no sense. Thus, if they vote for someone with the same viewpoint, they elect someone who also has similar weakened appetites. A leader as such would only serve to the appetites of some and neglect those who have differing opinions. Consequently, Defenders of Democracy must face whether the should be led country by one who seeks what is true and good for all (a philosopher) or by one who shares the weaknesses of the majority and puts the minority in

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Socrates Argue Of Justice In Plato's Republic

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the Republic, Socrates argues that justice ought to be valued both for its own sake and for the sake of its consequences (358a1–3). His interlocutors Glaucon and Adeimantus have reported a number of arguments to the effect that the value of justice lies purely in the rewards and reputation that are the usual consequence of being seen to be just, and have asked Socrates to say what justice is and to show that justice is always intrinsically better than is acting contrary to justice when doing so would win you more non-moral goods. Glaucon presents these arguments as renewing Thrasymachus’ Book 1 position that justice is “another’s good” (358b–c, cf. 343c), which Thrasymachus had associated with the claim that the rulers in any constitution frame

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In the Republic, Plato gives an extensive theory of justice. Three classes exist, rulers (legislators/deliberates), auxilaries (enforcers), and producers. What God has mixed into one's own soul decides, whether it is gold, silver, or iron/bronze, decides what class one belong's in. Each one of these classes has the potential to best develop a

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1169 Words | 5 Pages

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1355 Words | 6 Pages

What is justice? This is the crucial question that Plato attempts to answer in his dialogue, The Republic. He conjures up an allegory that justice can be found in a person, and a person can represent a city. Thus, his entire dialogue focuses on this ‘just’ city and the mechanics of how the city would operate. His dialogue covers a myriad of topics about justice in addition to the human soul, politics, goodness and truth.

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943 Words | 4 Pages

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